Capitol. Capital.

I’m not sure why I have such a travel bug. But I do. Perhaps it’s from moving around to different states as a kid. Maybe it’s because of my love of learning and experiencing new things. Or it could be due to having such wonderful opportunities through Concert Choir to tour the country.

Regardless, it’s been on my life bucket list for quite some time to visit every state in the United States. And, more recently, I’ve added visiting every state capitol.

I’ve grown up in two different state capital cities – Topeka and Jefferson City. I was around 7 or 8 years old when I visited the Topeka state capitol. I thought it was the coolest thing because it had this awesome green dome. Once I moved to Oklahoma and we started homeschooling, we started visiting the state capitol to help lobby and influence public policy regarding our education. This opportunity allowed me to visit the Oklahoma City capitol building – at that time, there was no dome. Then when I was 11, we moved to Jefferson City. As a high schooler, I was highly involved with government and politics. I grew to love the beautiful building where I spent one week every year through TeenPact. It’s still the site of home as I drive into town, crossing the Missouri river, seeing it standing strong.

Topeka, KS

Oklahoma City, OK

Jefferson City, MO

I visited the Denver state capitol while at the National Fine Arts Festival in 2005. Then I was able to visit Indianapolis through college when I staffed the National Fine Arts Festival in 2007 as an Evangel rep.

Denver, CO

Indianapolis, IN

Before I went to school, I participated in an apologetics & worldview training seminar for 2 weeks called Summit. This program was held in a small town in Tennessee, and on our way through the state, my mom, sister, and I spent a day in Nashville taking in the sites – including the seat of government there.

Nashville, TN

During my years in Concert Choir with Evangel, we toured all over the country. Our west coast tour the summer of 2010 included a stop at the Boise capitol building where we sang in the rotunda. Absolutely amazing acoustics!

Boise, ID

Concert Choir, group photo in the Boise capitol rotunda

My sister and I took a road trip to Niagara Falls before she moved across country and I would be soon starting PA school. On our way back to Missouri, we stopped in Columbus, OH to view their beautiful capitol.

Columbus, OH

When my sister and brother-in-law moved to Raleigh, NC, I went out to visit them in 2013 before starting PA school. While there, we popped over to the old capitol building. 

Raleigh, NC

This past year I’ve had the opportunity to visit three other capitols. In May, Kurt and I traveled to South Dakota to take in Mount Rushmore and the Badlands. On our way back home, we made a slight detour to catch Pierre, SD. Then a week later in June, I headed out to Boston, MA for the AAPA conference with my fellow classmate, Emily. One of our tourist visits included a stop at the capitol there. And finally, last week I started my internal medicine rotation in Des Moines, IA. On my free afternoon, I was able to catch a few hours at the gorgeous Iowa capitol.

Pierre, SD

Boston, MA

Des Moines, IA

[Btw, I've also been to London (England), Nairobi (Kenya), and Washington, D.C. (USA). That's gotta count toward my global capital cities, huh?]

States visited as of November 2014. 

Capitols visited as of November 2014.

I don’t know if I’ll ever achieve my goal of visiting all the states and capitols, but I have a decent start. It’s always good to have dreams, right? In fact, recently my sister texted me saying she had a vision of us as old ladies trotting around the country glimpsing the last few states we just haven’t quite made it to yet. I’m game.